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BRPD officer on leave, criminal investigation underway

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BATON ROUGE- A Baton Rouge police officer is on administrative leave. He's accused of having sex with a woman while he was on the clock.

Baton Rouge Police say there are two investigations. One is administrative, while the other is criminal and being handled by the District Attorney's Office.

Brad Bennett is a uniform patrol officer. He has been with the department since August of 2009.

In the early hours of the morning outside the Bulldog back in August, three Baton Rouge Police Officers came into contact with two women leaving. One woman was given a DWI, while her passenger was given a ride home by Officer Brad Bennett. What happened next has detectives reviewing his actions.

"When she gets brought home by Brad Bennett, for some reason he invites himself in," Franz Borghardt, the woman's attorney said.

Borghardt said the woman didn't want her full name released.

"One thing leads to another and he has sex with her," Borghardt said. "He has sex with her while he's on the clock, while doing duties as a Baton Rouge Police Officer.

"We are going to review the file to find out if charges are appropriate; Which way we'll proceed," District Attorney Hillar Moore said. "Whether we'll make a decision ourselves or a case that goes to the grand jury."

Initially, Borghardt says State Police were called in. The case ultimately was investigated by Baton Rouge Police. Borghardt claims that's when the officer admitted to sleeping with the woman during a phone call.

"When I was listening to the controlled call, he told her he left because he had to go back to work," Borghardt said. "She asked him so you were working when all of this happened and he said yes."

Baton Rouge Police aren't commenting about the investigation but did say Officer Bennett isn't reporting to work while he's on leave.

Moore wasn't sure when a decision would be made on the criminal investigation. BRPD couldn't say how long their Internal Affairs investigation would take either.